Figs not ripening

Hello, fig experts. I have three varieties of figs: Celeste, Brown Turkey and Negronne. They have been in their place two years. They all have figs on them, but they are not ripening (except I have had three from the Celeste).

The Brown Turkey and the Negronne are on the Southeast side of the house in an elevated situation close to the wall. The Celeste is free-standing, same side of the house, except about 30 feet from the house.

My neighbor, who has the original Celeste, has already harvested almost all her figs a couple of weeks ago. That bush faces SE also and is very close to a building, That bush is about twenty feet higher on the other side of a little valley. I don't think she does anything for it, maybe not even water.

Our bushes died back last winter, but have come back enormously, with huge growth and big leaves. I did not water them very much, but I put some horse manure with shavings around them.

Do you think it has to do with the fact that they died back last winter? Or could the soil be too rich?

I have these fantasies about just eating figs off the trees (I have had a Celeste elsewhere, that was very prolific), but it does not look like I will this year.

In your experience, is this unusual? I would so much appreciate you advice.

Thank you very much!!!

C.

Clementine
I think that you had a double wammy if you can pardon my Cajun expression. You have a tree using all of it’s resources to recover from die back and horse manure is powerful stuff. How much did you put around the tree? Too much nitrogen will cause fruit not to develop.
Oldude

Hey, oldude: I think I put about 1 to 2 5. gal. buckets of horse manure mixed with shavings around each bush, and it was not fresh, at least 6 months, possibly more (came from neighbors). And I do have a lot of figs, they just don't ripen.

So, next year, I won't put anything on them, right? What kind of mulch would you suggest?

I am also going to have to invent something to protect them from freezing back again so badly. At my previous hose, I used to just dump in all my raked up needles/leaves, pine cones, etc., as deeply as I could. At the end of the winter the whole pile had packed down to just maybe two feet, and the bush would sprout back from there.

Thanks for your ideas, oldude. How are you doing with this awful weather? Best wishes!!

C.

Clementine
It may be that at this time of the year you may not be getting enough sunshine. I have green figs all over my trees (LSU purple only nothing on the Celeste) from the second crop. I picked a handful two weeks ago but the others are not ripening. It’s always this way with late season figs that just do not develop in time to beat the cooler weather. I know that this is the first crop but even for Zone 7 sounds late.
I feel fortunate to have minimal damage from Ike. The highest winds were gust of 70 mph. Ike was the big one and much of the gulf coast has been damaged. When everything is added up, Ike will easily surpass the damage from Katrina.
Oldude

Oldude is right, often the second crop never matures. I never water or fertilize and always get a crop. Figs are not like other fruit trees. They thrive on neglect.

OK, I guess I'll give up (I did have one other one though!!!). Next year I won't put anything on, around under, beside them. Then I should have bunches!!!!!!!

Thanks both for your thoughts. Oldude, I am so glad you did not have too much damage, do you have power yet?

C.

Hey Clementine, Since I am 20 miles from you, I thought I would chime in. My figs all froze this Spring so I got no breva crop (the June crop). I am pretty sure, since the main growth was also delayed, all the main growth figs were delayed too. I've gotten t eat 3 brown turkey, 2 Celeste and 2 LSU purples figs. (All trees are small since they were rotted in 2007 and planted in Fall 2008. I never had this trouble when I lived just N. of Charlotte until 2007 when we also had a late freeze. I have my black mission fig planted near the house on the S. side and the brown turkey is on the S. side of the garage. Celeste is out in the middle of the yard and probably won't be protected. If there is a freeze predicted after they green out next year, I am going to cover black mission with a large painters cloth and the brown turkey with anything my wife will let me have. I probably will run extension cords with 100 watt light bulbs to heat under the "tents". That has worked before down to 15 deg. nights with no damage at all.

I agree with oldude about putting no more manure and probably no fertilizer of any kind next year. However figs love to run their roots in mulch so try to give them 2 to 4 inches out as far as you can. My little Celeste is 2 1/2 feet high and about 2' diameter. When I moved the mulch away, the roots were out to 3' from the center of the tree. The mulch can be almost any kind I think but I like to run the lawn mower over a lot of leaves and catch them. The chopped leaves don't blow away so bad as leaves do.

Paul

We hope this has helped. Feel free to add more questions below or by Dmail. I think Oldude is close to the fig expert on DG and I'm learning from a lot of experience.

I have not forgotten about this thread, but I was gone for THREE weeks. Just before we left, we finally got some figs, Negronnes and Brown Turkeys. I don't know whether the Celeste did produce anything, haven't had a chance to ask my neighbors yet (who took care of the place while we were gone).

Thanks, Paul, for your input as well, and I am thinking also about somehow protecting my figs if it gets really bad. But they are so tall, perhaps 10', so that may be a problem with draping something over them. The Celeste is smaller, so that will work.

My neighbors says that she thinks we are going to have a long and cold winter, so better get ready soon. I don't know what she bases this prediction on, LOL.

I am going to read more about figs in a while (busy right now), and may come back with questions later.

Thanks for all the help and good ideas,
C.

Hi Clementine,
If you want to, you can easily prune the tops as well as branches down to a size that is easy to cover, maybe 6' high and 5' diameter. I think I will prune after the next freeze or in Dec. They will grow back very fast. I would suggest doing the pruning on the Negronne but maybe not the brown turkey. I may not cover my brown turkey unless there is a severe freeze (e.g./ about 15 deg). I don't know how cold hardy Negronne is, do you? I assume it is more tender than brown turkey. I'm still learning too so if you get new info, please let me know.

Brown turkey, Celeste and Chicago Hardy are rated for zone 7 so I won't worry about them as much as I will for my Black Mission and my new LSU Gold. I definitely will cover them and put a light bulb under the tent. My LSU Purple is in a pot on the deck and I can pull it right up to the South wall of the house- that keeps it pretty warm.

If you decide to prune Negronne, please tell me - I would like to come get a few limbs to root.

Paul

Hi Paul:

I was hoping that one could do just what you described, namely cutting them down some so they would be easier to cover. Thanks for that idea.

I don't know anything about the Negronne, but if I do find more info I will certainly share it with you. And then, if I prune it, I will certainly let you have some pieces.

Right now I am researching Actinidia arguta, a very small Kiwi - I am so greedy!